Hard days ahead for Australians

Oct 09, 2013, 01:44 IST
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Harit N Joshi

Australia's Adam Voges admits it will be difficult to face Indian spinners in their own backyard

Australia’s batsmen have their task cut out in the forthcoming seven-ODI series against India. Going by the record books, spinners have played a dominant role in India’s limited overs success on home soil post the 2011 World Cup.

Barring the Pakistan series, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin have dominated the wicket charts for India in the three home series thus far. Jadeja bagged 29 wickets, while Ashwin claimed 21 victims.

Team India will certainly look to further exploit their spin-friendly conditions after adding leg-spinner Amit Mishra and left-armer Yuvraj Singh to skipper MS Dhoni’s arsenal.

Aussie all-rounder Adam Voges admitted the visitors need to guard against the Indian spinners. “We need to have our plans against Jadeja, Ashwin and all the Indian bowlers. It’s going to be tough work against spinners in these conditions.

But look, as long as we have got some clear game plans, it’s about executing them. It’s going to be a big challenge, but I am certainly looking forward to it.

“You don’t become the No 1 side without being a very good all-round team. We’ll be well prepared and we’ll certainly look into their whole team and we’ll be ready,” Voges told reporters after their final practice session at the Cricket Club of India yesterday. Australia flew to Rajkot last night for their only T20 International on October 10.

Australia’s recent batting woes is also a big concern for them. “I think our one-day batting has been okay. We played pretty well against England in their conditions.

Obviously, the Champions Trophy didn’t go as we would have liked, but I thought the way we bounced back against England in England was pretty good.

“We’ll take a lot of confidence out of that as a batting group and we’ve got some continuity I guess with our batters. We know our role and like I said, a good start to our batting role will be crucial,” said Voges, who is fully fit now after leaving Perth Scorchers midway in the Champions League T20 and returning to Australia for back treatment.

Voges also said that the Aussies are keen on snatching the No 1 ODI ranking by beating India. “Look, there’s some big incentive for us in this tournament. Obviously, India is No 1 at the moment and if we can win this series, we’ve got an opportunity to overtake them. So, there’s no bigger incentive than that,” Voges concluded.

Shane Watson mentors Aussie youngsters

Shane Watson is ensuring Michael Clarke’s absence is not felt as the star all-rounder has taken up the job of mentoring the young Aussies in the build-up to the ODI series.

Watson, who joined the national team on Monday after fulfilling his Champions League T20 duty with Rajasthan Royals, was seen giving tips to some of the Australian youngsters as soon as they finished their nets at the Brabourne Stadium. Watson also had one-on-one sessions with a few players later on.

“Shane is a senior player along with Brad Haddin and these guys bring a wealth of experience particularly in India. Shane has played a lot of cricket here and any tips that he can give any of our guys, I am sure we all will be listening,” Voges said.